July 27

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Woke up and went to the Fredericton Farmer’s Market which turned out to be

hands down the best we’ve seen.  Rows of interesting foods, vegetables and crafts.

We spent a couple of hours exploring and eating. I had a falafel wrap, while kids had

home-made crossoints, grilled pizza, freshly squeezed orange juice, and ponchiki,

ridiculously similar to the ones from my childhood.

As we walked back to the car, we noticed the Science East museum, which we were

waivering about. We stopped by, and got stuck for another couple of hours—the

museum was excellent.  Lots of different experiments for kids, everything hands on

and very interesting; plus it is free for Museum of Science members.  If you visit the

museum first, King’s Landing village admission is half price—good to know in the

future—but we did not want to go to King’s Landing because it was raining pretty

hard.

Completely unexpectedly, we loved Fredericton.  Really would love to return here.

And now we are on our way home.

End of the trip odometer: 2,423 miles

July 26

Friday, July 26, 2013

Had an interesting breakfast with a couple from Halifax and a couple from

Newfoundland at the B&B.  The guy from Halifax was actually from Britain

originally, so we had a real British breakfast conversation.  We discussed the Queen

and her dominion (including Canada), baby prince and etc.

Afterwards, we went to the Fundy Geological museum; it was really not that great,

very small and with only one tour (which starts at 10, so we were late for that).

From the museum, we made a dash to the Joggins Unesco fossil site (45 min drive).

We had to be there before the high tide precludes the access to the fossils.  The tour

of the fossil cliffs was really interesting; we saw lots of fossils, and kids actually

found a bunch.  We also found sea glass and other interesting things.

Afterwards, we started our long drive home.  Our first long drive was to Fredericton,

where we are stopping for the night.  We lucked out as they had Highland Games

in Fredericton, so after a very nice dinner at the Snotty Fox restaurant we went to

listen to more Scottish music.  It was raining really hard the whole day and by the

time we got there it was one continuous downpour.  They let us in for free, since

there were too few takers; but the music was great.  Unfortunately, the last band

was the bagpipe band, and it was so loud that we had to cover our ears.

We returned to our hotel around ten, exhausted.  Kids are ready to go home.  It is a

seven hour drive according to Google.

July 25

Thursday, July 25, 2013

We woke up in a seedy hotel in Truro (“The Tidal Bore”), and ate at the worst

breakfast place ever, recommended by the concierge of the seedy hotel.  The

waitress actually ran away from us to give menus to local guys in the middle of

taking our order.  And it was impossible to eat the food. Truro, never again.

We then drove to the actual tidal bore rafting site, and although the original plan

was for Nick and I to take the boats, the captain (Shubenacadie River Adventures)

agreed to take Sasha on, so we could go with the whole family.  What a unique

experience.  You basically ride on a zodiac motor boat with the gushing tide of the

Bay of Fundy, while it is smashing into the waves of the river that flows against

the tide, creating huge waves.  We were drenched in water.  The highest wave we

passed was 14 ft.  Sasha was really brave, and cried only once.  Nick was sitting

in the front of the boat and got really drenched with water, so he was shivering

during the second half of the trip. Another highlight was mud-sliding—going down

the muddy shore of the Bay into the river.  I thought it was really dangerous, but

Nick loved it.  The mud colored all our clothes red, and it stained everything white

permanently.  Overall, a very exhilarating experience.

In the evening we drove to Parrsboro, and got into a really neat Vitorian B&B.  The

owner is an opera singer in Toronto, and a former set designer.  The house is really

beautiful, and we sat with her for a long time over wine and watermelon discussing

various cultural topics.  She has two kids who played well with Nick and Sasha.

We are off to bed right now, Anna is really mad and tired since she did not sleep

at the Tidal Bore at all—it was too smelly and dirty to her.  Howard Johnson at

Fredricton tomorrow after the geological museum, at least that’s the plan.

July 24

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

We woke up in B&B and ate breakfast with Terry the owner.  His breakfast was

rather simple (scrambled eggs), but his homemade jam was delicious.  He was

also a huge hit with kids, since he listened to all of their jokes.  It was a lengthy

breakfast, since after the meal he wanted to talk to us, too, and told us his entire

life story and views of the world.  Finally, at around 10, I had to get up to call B&B’s

for the upcoming night.  We decided on staying another night in a hotel since it was

raining pretty hard outside. When we finally got packed, it was 11 already; but then

Terry asked us to sign his guestbook, and then Sasha noticed a woman driving up

to his house.  The woman turned out to be Terry’s girlfriend, also very nice—Sasha

proceeded to ask her multiple questions, such as how long she’s known Terry and

what will they do together when we leave. Nicolas was sad to leave Terry’s house, he

really liked the guy and his food (this was the first time he tried scrambled eggs).

We were in Louisbourg fortress at 11:30, just in time to hear the canon firing. I

had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be one of the most memorable

experiences of the trip.  Louisbourg is a large Park Canada Historical Site,

completely re-built from 18

dresses, and they stage multiple theatrical performances throughout the day.  We

started with the musket firing, then Anna and Nick went on a tour while Sasha

and I watched the punishment of the maidservant accused of stealing (fun!).  Then

they had a great fairy tale performance, which included Nicolas in the role of

the lumberjack who saves the red riding hood. Then we went to the lunch at the

working class café; the food was authentic and very healthy: rye bread, haddock, red

potatoes, boiled carrots and fish soup.  We had to eat with spoons only, since that’s

what they did back then.  Afterwards, we went to the upper class dance, and Nick

and Sasha participated in the round of Lilibolero. Then it started to rain really hard,

and we watched the end of the day discharge of the cannon while getting completely

soaked.

At around 5:15, we were on the road to tidal bores, with no hotel or camping

reservation.  I drove through the winding roads around Brass D’Or for two hours,

periodically slowing down to a crawl because of low visibility.  We then stopped at

Tim Hortons, and I worked on finding the hotel near the tidal bores. Nicolas pooped

at Tim H’s, now he is a real Canadian.

It is roughly a five hour drive across Nova Scotia to Truro, where we’ll stay for the

night.  It was sad to say goodbye to Cape Bretton Island.  Love you Cape Bretton, as

Sasha would say.

Nick’s favorite part of the day: the tavern and being the lumberjack.

Sasha’s:  Terry and fairy tales.

Both: the entire day!

July 23

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Another long, long day. Anna and I woke up at 5:00 am to see the sunrise above the

Meat Cove campground.  We took the sleeping bags out and stayed in our camping

chairs; needless to say, the sunrise was spectacular.  It was interesting to note how

the bird calls increased as the sun went up.  The whole bay was filled with pinkish

sunlight.  The cliffs were majestic; I don’t think I’ve see a more beautiful place in my

life.

Then we went back to bed, but Sasha woke up at 7 am, asking me to clip her nails.

I had to get up with her, to let Anna, Nick, and the rest of the camp sleep.  We went

on the short hike down the beach and clipped the nails.  At around 9 am the heat

from the sun became intolerable, and Anna got out of the tent saying that we have

to leave now.  We quickly got everything in the car, and were ready to set out. We

did everything in such a hurry that we did not eat breakfast—so we rode down the

Cabot trail to the Main Street Bakery in Ingonish (about 1 hour drive) before we

actually ate.  The breakfast was really good, albeit expensive.  We decided to skip

lunch since it was so pricey and filling.

After the breakfast, we took a short hike up the mountain in Ingonish to see the

beautiful Cabot Trail for one last time.  Nick and Sasha fought over the seat at the

ledges, just as usual.  They fight quite a bit.

Then we commenced on our 2 hour journey to the Lake D’Or area.  Halfway there,

Anna saw an add for the puffin watching tour, and said she wanted to go.  We took

a “ferry”  (really a moving bridge for which they charge 5.50Can), and boarded the

puffin boat.  The tour was pretty awesome.  We saw puffins, bald eagles, seals, and

etc.  It took about three hours, but the wildlife sightings were plentiful and exciting.

Afterwards, we drove another hour to the Miner’s Museum.  I really wanted to see it

since I just read “Gerinal: by Emile Zola.  It was a pretty cool experience, since they

have an underground mine in the museum, and the collier takes you down below

the ocea to show how it all worked. We all loved it.

When we got out of the museum, it started to rain, and we were seriously doubting

our desire to go camping.  I called B&B’s and they were all booked. Finally, I found a

B&B for 200$ about 30 minutes away.  It was really expensive, but we did not want

to take the tent out in the rain.  It turned out to be a really cool place to stay (On

The Mira B&B); just a small house with a guy renting out his downstairs space.  The

bonus was that the guy offered me to drive up the road to his friend and get some

crab.  The friends decided not to charge me, so we had a crab dinner with local wine

before going to bed.

Tomorrow, we are off to Louisbourg fortress, and then tidal bores on Thursday.

July 22

Monday, July 22, 2013

An eventful day exploring the Cabot trail.

We woke up pretty early and had those delicious cinnamon buns again.  Nicolas ate

the largest breakfast ever. He likes breakfast food more than any other type.  We

then set out for the Cabot trail, passing though Mabou and Inverness, places we

liked so much.  The drive was rather promising, with sweeping ocean and mountain

vistas; kids were not screaming at each other the whole time, which is always a

bonus.  Nicolas found a poster with Dan the ranger on it in the Cabot trail info

center—everyone was excited. The Cabot trail itself lived up to the expectations;

similar to Acadia, but longer and with steeper hills.  Hope my car will make it

through.  Some of the mountains I had to traverse on the first gear.  At least I did not

have to run in front of the car.

Our first stop was the Skyline trail, about 5 milometers.  The ranger at the entrance

had an exhibition devoted to moose, I took a bunch of pictures with antlers.  Sasha

loved the moose poop made out of plastic; the ranger showed her the real moose

poop, too—it was laying nearby, since they have so many moose in the park.  The

trail was very beautiful, culminating with a boardwalk leading to the ledges above

the ocean cliffs.  On the way back, I walked with Sasha as usual, and made up a great

story to her about a girl named Bunny who had two long front teeth.  As we went

along, we saw a huge grasshopper; Sasha taught it to jump very high (she stepped

on it and it freaked out).  Then we bumped into Anna and Nick who were standing

on the trail, all excited.  A huge moose was right next to them.   At one point, it went

right past Nicolas, maybe two feet away.  Then I noticed another moose, with huge

antlers.  Definitely lots of fun.

From Skyline, we drove to Pleasant Bay and bought tickets for the Zodiak boat  to

see the whales.  What a crazy experience! The Zodiak went 27 knots per whatever,

bouncing through the waves really fast—kids liked the ride more than whales.  We

were the only people on the tour, so it was easy to see what we wanted.   At one

point, the whales surrounded us and one guy started swimming upside down and

splashing the water with his tails.  It was really funny.  We then rode towards the

seal and saw the beautiful coastline.

From there, we drove to the Meat Cove Campground, which had rave reviews from

campers.  It took us forever to get there, but it was totally worth it.  We pitched

the tent on the slope leading down to the cliff, with a beautiful bay below us.  The

scenery was simply amazing.  At some point, a pod of whales swam in a distance,

and we could watch them right from our campsite, while drinking local wine. Out of

this world experience.

End of the day odometer: 1243.3

July 21

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Woke up to the delicious cinnamon buns straight out of the oven—a great breakfast

at this B&B. I managed to run for half an hour before breakfast, so I was able to eat

several items from the B&B’s bakery.  It is a great place to stay.   Anna was looking

at a broken machine in gym in the morning, and wanted to say to Nicolas, “ there

is a piece missing here,” but said instead “there is a miss pissing here.”  Nick was

laughing about it all day.

After breakfast, we went to the Glenmore Distillery.  It was surprisingly

interesting—the tour guide gave an extensive description of the Scotch making

process, and even the kids liked the gorgeous grounds (probably the best garden

I’ve seen anywhere).  The Scotch itself was a bit overpriced ($80 for 10 yr. old

whisky).  I ended up not buying it.  Will have to manage with straight moonshine

bought in PEI instead.

Afterwards, we went to the Iverness beach which is famous for its sea glass.  The

waves were too high though, so we did not find any.  Sasha got a couple as presents

from passing women.  The beach itself is very beautiful, with a golf course next to it,

and a lovely boardwalk.  We spent over an hour just walking the beach and looking

at stones.

We then went to the Mabou farmers’ market.  Sasha got some pink flower earrings,

Nick a blueberry soda that turned his tongue purple, I ate a dozen local mussels.

We got lunch at the travelling organic lunch cart, it was phenominal except for the

bread, which was gluten free (GF is a big thing here, and most restaurants have GF

menus).

Then we walked to the famous Red Shoe Pub, which featured a performance by

Chrissy Crawley.  Gaelic music is so unique, and her fiddling was really great.  She

was nice looking, too.  We stayed only for about an hour, since kids got really bored

by the music (it is hard for the untrained ear to distinguish between the songs).

Then we walked to the grocery store and bought ourselves some dinner.  Ate at the

B&B again, ourselves, and off to the Celidih concert we went.

The concert was something:  local talents played and performed Celtic music.  Irish

dancing, fiddling, step dancing, singing, bag-pipe music, etc.  It was all at a very high

level and very heartfelt.  The people in the audience were mostly local, and it was

great to see both young and old enjoying and making this music.  A totally awesome

experience which vindicated my decision to stay in Mabou for two nights (which

some people doubted).  Even Nicolas liked the concert (I think).  Sasha was more

philosophical about it and asked Anna how do mermaids pee.

Kids are asleep now, and we are ready for the unplanned part of our journey.

Tomorrow is the first night when we don’t have any reservation for the night.  Nor

do we have a firm plan beyond a desire to see the Cabot trail.

July 20

Saturday, July 20, 2013

We stayed pretty late with the beautiful campfire last night; Nicolas did not want

to go to bed, he liked the fire so much.  Finally, he threw his fire-tending stick into

the pit and went to bed.  Half an hour later, he asked me from the tent, is my stick

burned completely? And I said yes.  And he started crying.  Then I went into the tent

and Anna got out, and I read him Tom Sawyer, which never fails to put both kids to

sleep.

In the morning, we woke up early and got the campsite packer.  Nick and Sasha were

playing on the playground.  It was really sad to leave Brudnell.   Hope to come here

some day. We then drove to the ferry, and sailed to Nova Scotia.

Our first stop in NS was in Antigonish, we ate at the main street pizza parlor

(surprisingly good midetterenian fare).  The town itself was pretty nice, wish we

could stay there more (they had the annual Evolve festival at the time, but it is not

feasible with kids).

Finally, at around 4:30, we were at Mabou River Inn.  The day got extremely hot,

and we reluctantly went to the West Mabou beach.  It turned out to be a gorgeous

beach… mountains with little cottages and pastures around a sand dune.  Warm,

shallow water.  We spent a good deal of time there, and I even made friends with

a M’iqua (native American) dude.   He showed me how to catch jellyfish and gave

recommendations on local beer.  I later met him, his kids and “his woman” at the

grocery store—people in Cape Breton eat dinner really early, and restaurants close

at 7.  We had to eat in the little kitchen in the B&B. We were then too exhausted to

go to the 10 pm family step dance, and went to bed.  Celidihs tomorrow!!!

End of day odometer: approx. 1100, it is thunder and lightning out, I don’t want to

run to get the exact figure.

July 19

Friday, July 19

Is Brudnell Provincial Park the ultimate camping experience?  I have to say yes.  The

perfectly silent night followed by the day filled with horseback riding (horse stable

and canoe rental right on the park premises)—and did I mention the site on the

lake, with open fires permitted—what could be better?.  We woke up pretty late

and set out for the Children’s’ Festival set up by Parks Canada—by luck we had it

in Brudnell.  Nicolas made friends with a 12-year old Graham from Manitoba (his

family moved there from PEI with the oil boom), and spent the next 5 hours talking

to him.  I overhear them discussing Doctor Who, differences between American

and Canadian English, Minecraft and etc.  Anna heard Nick say to a passerby, “we

are nerds.” At some point, it started to rain, by they did not care and kept talking

through.  Graham gave Nick his email to keep in touch.  Sasha, on the other hand,

played all kinds of games while Anna and I took alternate turns to read / sleep in

the tent.  I loved the Canadian game pop the balloon, where each child gets a balloon

tied to his leg, and then they try to pop each other’s balloons.  At 3 pm Nick and

Anna went for the horse ride, while I supervised Sasha on her pony ride. Sasha’s

pony name was Jazz… it had a brown saddle with pink outlines, and the pony itself

was mostly brown with white spots on the forehead (Sasha’s description). Anna’s

horse was Ceithe (pronounce KAYA) and Nicks Fax.  Nick and Anna came back

absolutely in love with their horses and happy about life in general.  They want to do

this again.

We were back at the campsite at around five; I got lots of firewood and Nicolas

helped me to tend an enormous fire.  The dinner was simple pasta with PEI

vegetables and local beer again.  Did I mention that we managed to run into

Georgetown and buy some sweets from the Maroon Pig bakery?  It was really good.

Off to Nova Scotia tomorrow.

July 18

Thursday, July 18 End of the day odometer: 919

Woke up, ate a delicious breakfast of PEI eggs with PEI scallions.  Nick and Sasha

went off to play with the two Swiss boys we nicknamed the minions while we

packed the site; it is getting tedious, but we have fewer things as we progress.  We

bought cookies at the bakery (so good; I will get so huge on this island) and drove

off to Greenwich National Park.  By the time we got there, it was lunchtime, and we

stopped at the Lonely Planet recommended café (Rick’s Fish’n Chips) and it was

rather bland and expensive.

Next, we watched a short movie about the dunes and indigenous peoples at the

Greenwich interpretive center and played around with the hands on exhibition

(very good).  From the center, we took a gorgeous 5 km hike to the parabolic dunes

(the only such in Canada, hence the site is a National Park).  The walk was probably

the prettiest I’ve seen. The path was bordered by meadows of different flowers, with

the view of the ocean nearby.  The walking bridge through the freshwater lake was

stunning; everything was great, etc.  Once on the beach, we had the whole thing to

ourselves.  It looked sort of like Head of the Meadow, but with no one in sight.  Nick

and I swam, while Sasha and Anna watched the birds in our monocular.

Next we drove to the Basin Head beach, which has the “singing” sands and a small

bridge from which kids jump into the ocean.  Unfortunately, by the time we got

there, it was to cold to jump into the water; but we still walked on the singing sands,

and Sasha jumped off the lifeguard’s towers.

So far, we always drove west to east, and now we drove down south to our next

campsite—Brunell Provincial Park.  It was another hit—our site is huge and private,

with the view of the lake (or is it the bay?) and clean showers.  We are happy to be

here.  Kids are sleeping now, and Anna and I are sitting by the fire, talking.

July 17

Wednesday, July 17

Woke up to a gorgeous weather and went to the beach.  I took a detour to call

parents from the nearby free Wi-Fi; while I was gone, Anna and kids made a puzzle

out of stones.  I understood only half of it, and brought the boogie board to the

beach; was supposed to bring sunglasses, too.  We created a seahorse beach mosaic

which was a hit with Cavendish people.  I had a beer.  At lunch, we went to the lunch

place recommended by the Lonely Planet (Carr’s Oysters).  It was marvelous.  While

we had quahogs with local beer, kids spotted the bridge across the bay that locals

were jumping off.  Nicolas really wanted to go.  I was a bit scared, since the current

in the bay was really strong, but Nick persisted.  After lunch, we walked onto the

bridge and I just could not do it.  However, Nick went over and jumped. I did not

want to look weak, so after a moment’s hesitation, I jumped too.  Total adrenalin

rush.  We did it several more times, and Nick said that he was a “happy boy now.”

We then tried to rent canoes nearby, but the guy refused to give them to us since the

current in the bay was so strong.  So we went to the local amusement park, which

was just OK—I liked the “bumper boat,” pretty unique.  While kids were finishing

at the park, I bought oysters and mussles, and we are now eating them and getting

ready for our first rain of the trip (hope it will pass us by).   Sasha is playing with

boys from Switzerland.

Later at night we went to the COW’S again, got some ice-cream (Nicolas got

GooeyMooey with Chocolate Chip Mint) and bought a tee shirt for Nicolas

(“MooCraft”).  Once again, he thanked us and said he is loves me and kissed me, all

ecstatic about the tee-shirt.  I got the MooMooLemon shirt (on sale).

July 16

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Last night, we went to bed with Sasha asking in the dark tent: “Mom, does tooth

fairy come in the tents?”  It was a rocky night, with a family of raccoons attacking

our garbage bag; they threw a real party, and Anna and I could not sleep for most

of the night.  In the morning, the neighboring Christian family with six children

brought us the some propane and noted that there is a raccoon family living nearby,

so we have to take the trash out.

The wind was really strong, so we decided to go to the Anne of Green Gables house

today.  It was unexpectedly good.  The house reproduced the life of 19

pretty well, with many interesting facts—such as when you say “sleep tight,” it

means you need to tighten the ropes on the rope bed you sleep on (on exhibit

second level).    We then walked the trails and tried on awesome hats.  We did not

try Anne’s favorite Raspberry Cordial ($2.75 a bottle).

Next, we gave up to Sasha’s requests and went to the amusement / water park in

Cavendish.  It was unexpectedly really good. They had a roller coaster (Sasha went

three times) and a toilet bowl water slide.  In addition, ponies, guinea pigs and lamas

were on display.  We had fun for about four hours.  

Then we went to COW’s Ice Cream (The best in the world, apparently—in a list

where Ben and Jerry’s is # 10), and took a detour to buy shrimp and PEI oysters

(really cheap).  We cooked shrimp on the grill and ate it with buckwheat and PEI

wince.  Delicious.

July 15, 2013

Monday July 15, 2013

I woke up early in the morning and went to get the world’s best sticky buns from

Kelly’s Bakery.  They did not disappoint.  We ate them for both breakfast and

midday snack.  While Anna was getting the car loaded, I went with the kids to the

interpretive center and got the “Beaver tags” for completing the four activities.  We

saw our friend Dan the ranger (from last night), and he was already preparing for

his next adventure.

We then followed the “scenic trail” to Hopewell Rocks.  I was driving while Anna was

navigating (not the usual situation), and at some point she suggested we follow the

GPS and do a cutoff. The cutoff led though a pretty light house and an old shipyard

(positive), but then the road became unpaved, and we were almost leveled by the

tractor with bayles of hay.  At some point the car was too low to the ground and was

scraping the rocks.  I got really nervous, and got our of the car.  That was enough

for the car to have clearance.  For the next mile, I had to run in front of the car while

lighter people were driving.  Kids were laughing really hard, and I had fun running

through the hay-filled dirt road.  It was a good workout.  They let me into the car

when I lost enough weight (or, we hit the highway).

Our next step was the Hopewell Rocks park; totally awesome.  The rocks form

unusual sculptures, while the ocean floor is made of clay.  Nicolas met another 10

year old from Boston, and they went into the mud and got half-way submerged

there.  Needless to say, Nicolas loved playing the in the mud, while Sasha stayed on

the shore and talked to the boys’ mother (your daughter is really funny).  We then

ate lunch at the café, which was OK; they serve local blueberry beer, which was

excellent.

The couple from Boston are skipping Halifax and are going to Maitland Tidal Bors

plus advocate coast sea kayaking instead.  We are on our way to PEI; munching on

dulce, local delicacy.

We hit traffic in Moncton, and were in PEI at 6:30.  Everywhere along the roads are

potato fields here. The Cavendish Park campsite is right on the beach, so we were

able to go for a swim right after stetting up the camp.  The water is pretty warm, and

the beach is beautiful.  Afterwards, we went to the local store and bought PEI beer;

a hit again.  We ate fresh local produce with local potatoes: delicious.  Nicolas keeps

talking about Dan and his night time excursion into the forest; he was explain to us

why red light does not bust the night vision.  Overall, and intense day that started in

the Bay of Fundy, continued at the Hopewell Rocks, and ended in PEI.  No plans for

tomorrow.  Anne of Green Gable house perhaps?

End of the day odometer: 726.5

July 14, 2013

July 14, 2013

Kids went to bed on time last night thanks to my southern style reading of Tom

Sawyer—it never fails to be soporific.  We didn’t sleep too well though, since Nick

was rather sick, coughing and sneezing through the night, and the northern birds

and squirrels started really early.

After campsite breakfast, Sasha and I went down the stairs—we have stairs next to

our campsite leading all the way to the town of Alma—and partook of another ranger

activity, "beach sculpture."  A local artist drew a heron on

the sand, and then all the people were gathering sea materials of different colors—

white shells, blue stones, brown seaweed, etc.—to create a rather impressive

mosaic.  The tide (which is famous for being the largest in the world) was low, so we had

probably half a mile of a beach to ourselves.   Anna and Nick came down midway

through, and Nick slept near the sculpture, sneezing all the while.  We then walked

to the water, which took us 10-15 minutes; the patterns and textures under our

feet were phenomenal.  We took pictures of the mosaics and went back to Alma for

lunch.  Anna and kids had the fare from the “Alma Take-out” restaurant, which was

surprisingly good; I crossed the road, and bought a freshly steamed lobster & local

beer (Honey Wheat from PEI, great).  It was an excellent lunch.

We then drove up to the next ranger program, which was on the lake in the middle

of Fundy preserve.  The program itself was rather bland (a theatrical piece involving

rangers pretending they are bilingual animals), but the lake was exceptional.  We

swam in the lake and hung out on the beach while Nicolas slept; afterwards, he was

ready for ice-cream, so we dove downhill to Alma (I had to downshift in order not

to burn my breaks) and we had ice-cream in the same take out place.  We then went

back to the tent and Nick and I had a two hour siesta (he is still sleeping as I am

writing this).

At 9:30 pm we had a night hike through the Caribou trail—without lights!  It was

totally amazing.  Our tour guide (ranger Dan) had night vision goggles, astronomical laser

pointer, naturally light producing mints, tons of stuff to touch and smell in the dark,

and cookies from the famous local bakery.  It was so interesting!  We could not see

anything, and had to follow the little fluorescent triangle attached to another person.

Dan showed us all the constallations in the sky, plus lots of other really cool things.

We got to our tents at midnight, exhausted.

July 13, 2013

July 13 2013.  odometer: 528

Yesterday we left Boston at 7 pm and arrived at Bangor at around midnight. We

stayed at the Vacationland Inn, which is familiar to us from last year’s visit to

Acadia.  It was less pleasurable this time, since both Nicolas and I got significant

dust allergies—however, the waffle breakfast was excellent, we all ate waffles while

Nick ate both the waffle and cereal.  Next, we drove to Saint John, New Brunswick—

following the Lonely Planet (LP) guide, we stopped at the farmer's market and it was very

colorful.  I ate the jumbo lobster roll for $10, the cheapest I’ve had anywhere.  Then

I had to stop at the local White Tiger store to buy Nick the swim trunks—forgot

them at home.  Meanwhile, kids were wading in the four beavers fountain—the four

beavers represent the four sons of the Irving Oil Station family, which originated in St. John.

Next, we drove to the Fundy National Park.  The campsite here is the best we’ve

ever seen—really the luxury camping.  Clean showers, beautiful tent sites, a heated

seawater pool overlooking the bay… We swam in the pool, ate the mac dinner

with guacamole, and then went to the ranger program (the park is famous for its

interpretive programs).  This one had a big bonfire and a theatre skit about

fireflies, which involved the guy with ten camp lights around his head playing

ukulele and singing “ when the light hits the skies, fireflies—its amore” (As we'll learn later
on, this was our favorite ranger Dan).   I need to

use it in the next camping trip to Shawme Crowell.  Afterwards, they gave us hot

chocolate, and talked to kids about nature.  We went to the base and signed up for

the night hike at 9:30 pm (8:30 Boston time) for tomorrow.  This is really ambitious,

but we’ll see.  Nick is sneezing all the time, hope he is not sick.  So far, its been really

cool.  Note: can’t believe I forgot the camera bag.

Funny episodes:  in the car, Sasha was behaving pretty badly the entire trip,

battling with Nicolas for sleeping space.  At some point, after everyone yelled at

her, she said:  “someone told me that if you say you are an idiot, than that person

is an idiot.” Nick lovingly agreed.....  At the night performance, they asked what senses can humans use
in the night to see, and Nicolas yelled: “Night vision goggles.”....  I was saying hi to the

campers next to us when Sasha came over and asked me, “Dad, have you ever seen

inside the trailer home?”  After that, they just had to invite her into their trailer....  In

the car, we played name the first letter of the grocery item, and Nicolas asked “J”

and then we could not guess it, and he said: “it is chapolino.”  Turns out, he meant

Jalapeno.